U.S. patent number 5,087,061 [Application Number 07/624,714] was granted by the patent office on 1992-02-11 for wheelbarrow-trailer implement.
Invention is credited to Astor J. Wallace.
United States Patent |
5,087,061 |
Wallace |
February 11, 1992 |
Wheelbarrow-trailer implement
Abstract
A wheelbarrow which may be readily converted to a garden trailer
is presented. The wheelbarrow comprises an upper pan for carrying
materials. The upper pan is connected to lower non-parallel base
rails which serve as the base and handles for the upper pan.
Attached beneath the base rails are a pair of wheels. The wheels
are seperated from the base rails by seperating plates and the pan
is separated from the base rails by a wedge. The converging ends of
the base rail have a dumping base plate attached. A mainframe tow
bar is attached to the housing of the axle between the two wheels.
When it is desired to convert the wheelbarrow to a trailer, a tow
bar extender is easily fastened to the mainframe tow bar and the
handles are folded back underneath the pan. In dumping material
from the pan, the wheelbarrow may be easily turned on its base
plate and the entire contents of the pan dumped. This dumping is
facilitated by the separation of the pan and wheels from the base
rail by the separating plates and wedge. The tow bar extender is
conveniently attached to the base rail when the device is being
used as a wheelbarrow.
Inventors: |
Wallace; Astor J. (Harrisburg,
IL) |
Family
ID: |
24503044 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/624,714 |
Filed: |
December 3, 1990 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
280/30;
280/47.31; 280/47.315; 280/653; 280/656 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B62B
1/20 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B62B
1/00 (20060101); B62B 1/20 (20060101); B62B
001/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;280/653,656,30,47.31,491.5,47.33,47.315,655.1 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Kashnikow; Andres
Assistant Examiner: Culbreth; Eric
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Weber; Don W.
Claims
Having fully described my invention, I claim:
1. A wheelbarrow/trailer device having a dumping end and a
workman's end, comprising:
(a) a fixed upper pan supported by a pair of lower wedges connected
to said pan;
(b) a pair of lower base rails, converging toward the dumping end
of said device, connected to and underneath said wedges, wherein
each base rail has a permanently but hingedly attached extension
rail;
(c) a pair of opposed wheels connected by an axle, said axle being
attached to the bottom of the base rails by a pair of corresponding
plates which separate said rails from said axle;
(d) a central tow bar member fixedly attached to said
wheelbarrow/trailer device;
(e) a wheelbarrow/trailer base plate connecting the converging ends
of said base rails;
(f) a separate tow bar extender detachably connected to said tow
bar member; and
(g) a tow bar securing means for detachably securing said separate
tow bar extender underneath said pan to one base rail;
wherein in a first wheelbarrow configuration the base rails and
extension rails are in an extended position and said tow bar
extender is secured to said one base rail underneath the
wheelbarrow pan, and in a second alternative trailer position said
extension rails are folded back about hinges and said tow bar
extender is attached to said tow bar member.
2. A wheelbarrow/trailer device as in claim 1, further comprising a
pair of inner L-shaped braces, one brace being attached to the
inside and top of each rail at the hinge.
3. A wheelbarrow/trailer device as in claim 1, further comprising a
means for securing said extension rails to said base rails when in
a folded position.
4. A wheelbarrow/trailer device as in claim 3, wherein said tow bar
extender securing means comprises a C-shaped bracket.
5. A wheelbarrow/trailer device as in claim 3, wherein said hinged
rail extension securing means comprises C-shaped securing brackets.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wheelbarrows and other garden vehicles are well known throughout
the United States. They consist generally of an upper pan or
container for storing and transporting material, lower diverging
handles, and one or more wheels. The one-wheeled vehicles are
generally less stable than are the two-wheeled carts.
It has been known in this particular field to make a wheelbarrow
which may also serve as a trailer to be pulled by a tractor. One
method of doing this is to provide a dolly or other small sets of
wheels upon which the wheelbarrow can ride when the dolly is
connected to the tractor or riding lawn mower. Yet another method
was disclosed in the 1988 patent issued to Porter, U.S. Pat. No.
4,789,171.
The Porter device disclosed a multi-purpose wheelbarrow which could
be converted to a trailer by completely removing the arms,
re-attaching them in a different configuration and attaching the
now convergent arms to a universal insert member which would then
be connected to the tractor or riding lawn mower. However, the
Porter device had a number of drawbacks in that a number of
separate parts and a cumbersome interchange of the supporting arms
was required to convert the wheelbarrow to a garden trailer.
The instant device enables the gardener to convert his wheelbarrow
to a trailer by means of permanently affixed hinged handle
extenders and an easily attached tow bar extender.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The instant invention comprises several new improvements in the
wheelbarrow art so that the conversion from wheelbarrow to trailer
and vice versa can be accomplished in an efficient and simple
manner. Additionally, the unique construction of the wheelbarrow
and bottom supporting members enables the gardener to dump the
material in the wheelbarrow by using an end plate.
The instant wheelbarrow comprises an upper pan which may be of
varying size. The upper pan is connected to a pair of non-parallel
base rails by means of an essentially triangular shaped wedge. A
pair of wheels are attached to the base rails by means of
separating plates which separate the axle for the wheels from the
base rails. (These separating plates are critical since they allow
the dumping of the wheelbarrow without further hinged mechanisms or
other devices.) When it is desired to convert the wheelbarrow to a
trailer, the base rail extending arms are simply folded back upon
the main base rails and secured thereto by a suitable bracket.
Attached to the axle is a mainframe tow bar which can be extended
beyond the dimensions of the upper pan by quickly and easily
attaching a tow bar extension. The trailer may then be conveniently
attached to the tractor or riding lawn mower. When not in use the
tow bar extension is detachably connected to one of the base
rails.
It is an object of this invention to provide a wheelbarrow which
may be conveniently and quickly converted into a garden trailer. It
is a further object of this invention to provide a wheelbarrow
which may be easily converted into a trailer by means of readily
available and conveniently attached parts. It is a further object
of this invention to provide a wheelbarrow which may be emptied
without the necessity for hinging the upper pan by means of tipping
the wheelbarrow onto a base plate.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a wheelbarrow
which may be converted to a trailer and yet conveniently stored in
a very small space. Other and further objects of this invention
will become apparent upon reading the following Specification
herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of the wheelbarrow/trailer device having
the arms in the extended position.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the wheelbarrow with the arms
extended.
FIG. 3 is a cut-away view of the wheelbarrow shown along lines 3--3
in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the wheelbarrow/trailer device shown
with the arms in the retracted position.
FIG. 5 is a side view of the wheelbarrow device shown with the arms
in the retracted position and with the tow bar extension attached
to the mainframe tow bar.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the wheelbarrow with the arms in the
retracted position shown along lines 6--6 of FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The wheelbarrow/trailer of the instant invention comprises an upper
pan 1 and lower supporting members. The wheelbarrow pan 1, as best
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is connected to the lower base rails 3 by a
base rail wedge 17. The pan 1, wedge 17 and base rails 3 may be
connected to each other by any convenient means including nails,
bolts, or glue. The base rail wedge 17 raises the pitch of the pan
so that it may be fully and conveniently dumped when used in
conjunction with the end plate described below.
The wheelbarrow device is designed to be a two-wheeled vehicle,
having tires 2 mounted on metal wheels 16. The wheels 16 are
connected by an axle 12.
The mainframe of the wheelbarrow/trailer is made up of non-parallel
base rails 3 which diverge towards the workman's end and converge
toward the dumping end. The main base rails 3 are connected at
their converging end by a wheelbarrow base plate 13. The main base
rails, at their diverging end, have hinged extension handles 4, as
best shown on FIGS. 1 and 2. These extension handles are
permanently but hingedly attached to the main base rails 3 by means
of a metal hinge 6, as best shown on FIG. 2. In order to maintain
the strength of the handles when they are extended, an inner
L-shaped brace 5 is attached to the inside of each base rail, as
best shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. When the extension handles 4 are in
their extended position, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, they may be
secured to the L-shaped braces 5 by means of bolts 18.
Attached to the bottom of the main base rails 3 are a pair of
stationary legs 10. These stationary legs may take any shape but
are shown in the preferred embodiment as a modified "V". The wheels
are connected by an axle 12 which is in turn connected to a pair of
axle separating plates 11, as shown on FIG. 3. This axle separating
plate 11 raises the pan from the axis of rotation when dumping (the
axis of rotation being the longitudinal axis of the axle which
connects the wheels 16). This axle separating plate 11 is important
to the dumping procedure in that it allows the wheelbarrow to rest
on the wheelbarrow base plate 13 when dumping the pan 1 and
insuring that the full load of material may be discharged from the
pan conveniently and efficiently. The axle is secured to the main
base rails by means of a pair of axle securing plates 14, as best
shown on FIG. 1.
In order to allow the conversion of the wheelbarrow to a garden
trailer, a mainframe tow bar 7 is permanently affixed to the bottom
of the wheelbarrow at two points. Surrounding the axle 12 is an
axle housing. The mainframe tow bar 7 has one end permanently
affixed to the axle housing and a second end permanently affixed to
a mainframe tow bar brace 15, as shown on FIG. 1. The mainframe tow
bar may be extended when the conversion of the wheelbarrow to a
trailer is desired by means of a mainframe tow bar extension member
8. This mainframe tow bar extension member 8 is attached to one
mainframe base rail 3 by means of C-shaped securing brackets 9.
These C-shaped securing brackets have tension which biases the
outer ends of the C-shaped brackets closed. The tow bar extension
normally is secured to the base rail 3 when the device is used as a
wheelbarrow. However, the tow bar extension 8 may be readily and
easily detached from the base rail and attached to the mainframe
tow bar upon conversion to a trailer. As best shown in FIG. 4, the
mainframe tow bar extender 8 is inserted into the end of the
mainframe tow bar 7 which is nearest to the mainframe tow bar brace
15. Corresponding holes through the tow bar 7 and the tow bar
extension 8 allow a pin to be dropped therethrough, thus securing
the extender to the mainframe tow bar, as shown in FIG. 4. The
opposite end of the tow bar extender 8 has a convenient coupling
therein for attaching the trailer to a tractor or riding lawn
mower. The opposite attaching end of the extender 8 may be simply a
hole, as shown on FIG. 4, or a device adapted to receive a towing
ball.
When it is desired to dump the material contained in the pan 1, one
simply tips the wheelbarrow up onto its base plate 13. Because the
wheels and axle are separated from the mainframe base rails 3 by
means of axle separating plates 11, this tipping action may be
completed and the wheelbarrow may be turned and supported on the
base plate 13.
Because the essential elements of the wheelbarrow and trailer
consist of the wheelbarrow itself and one tow bar extender which is
secured to a base rail, all of the parts necessary for converting
the wheelbarrow to a trailer and back again are conveniently stored
on the vehicle. The vehicle is light-weight, the preferred
embodiment weighing approximately 38 pounds, yet is strong and
durable due to the unique construction described herein. Since the
unit is lightweight, a woman or child of appropriate age can easily
handle the device. Since the device has two wheels, it is ideal for
a one-armed person to use in gardening since it can be driven with
one hand. The unit will not tip over since it is supported by two
wheels and can be turned in a ninety degree angle in either
direction by pivoting about one wheel or the other. When stored in
an upright condition with the arms in the retracted position, as
shown on FIG. 4, the wheelbarrow/trailer can be stored in a space
of 30" by 36". It can be shipped assembled in a box which is
approximately 31" by 37" by 13".
The wheelbarrow is not only a space saver, but it also can be
easily and quickly interchanged from a wheelbarrow to a trailer in
less than two minutes. It may be conveniently hooked up to a riding
lawn mower or a tractor by the use of only one bolt. Since the
wheels are separated from the main base rails and since the pan is
separated from the main base rails by a wedge, dumping may be
uniquely accomplished by turning the wheelbarrow on end onto its
base plate 13.
* * * * *